HOW TO WRITE A SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE

If you've never written a scientific article before, and aren't a natural writer, the task ahead can look so daunting! Here are some tips that can make it easier.

Step 1

First of all, determine what journal you want to submit your manuscript to. Do you want your article to be freely accessible online to everyone? Then you'll have to pick an open-access journal. Start with taking a look at the articles you read (read, not write). Which journal does appeal most to you? Where would your article fit in best? Take a look at the scope of some journals, in other words.

Step 2

Journals can differ considerably in all sorts of ways and you will have to tailor your article to the journal you pick. When you write for Nature or Science you target a different audience and will have to use a different style than when you write for a highly specialized journal.

Step 3

Journal ranking is important too. Be honest with yourself. Do you think the research you are about to describe can compete with the research usually published in the journal? Don’t be too shy. The fact that you may be about to start on your first publication says nothing about the quality of your research or the importance of your conclusions.

Step 4

Some journals will charge you for bulky papers, or for artwork. If you’re on a tight budget, that is something to take into consideration. Speaking of artwork, do you need assistance from the graphics specialists in your department or at your university? If so, there may be charges for that as well.

Let’s summarize this before continuing:

• Decide on whether you want an open-access journal or not. Compare the scope of some journals and the topic of your paper.
• Compare the research usually published in the journal and the quality of your research.
• If you have several suitable favorite journals, pick the one with the highest ranking.
• Check if there will be any publishing charges and look at your budget.

Step 5

Next, you go to the journal’s web site and download the instructions to authors, all of them. Templates may be available and you may have to decide between preparing your manuscript in Word or in LaTeX. You have no idea how many people completely forget to look at a journal's instructions to authors! That’s like taking a half-eaten cake along as a gift to a friend’s birthday, and leaving the cake's decorating up to the friend.

Step 6

Decide what your main findings are and place them in a context. How significant are they and what are the strength and weaknesses of your work? Can you do something about those weaknesses or is it a matter of more research, more experiments, or another expedition? If you can’t answer any of these questions, you are likely not ready yet to write the article, but real life is rarely ideal and you may have to take a shortcut.

Again, summarizing what you want to tell you readers is the way to start. Write the framework first, and flesh it out next. Don't try to tell everything at once, but begin with the end in mind. The end is the goal you have. What is it that you want to tell your colleagues? What would you want to read if this was someone else's work?

Step 7

So, sit down and decide on the sections your article will have. Describe the state of the art in your field, if you haven't already done that in an earlier stage. What are others doing, what research by others is particularly relevant for your work and what made you decide to take certain steps instead of other steps in your research? Write that up. Then write up what you did. After having written these outlines, summarize it all, that is, write the abstract (and check the maximum number of words you’re allowed to use for the abstract).

Step 8

Now you should be able to write the conclusions (see 6). Don’t do what many other people do and make the mistake of simply repeating the abstract or introduction here. That is not what the conclusions section is for! At this point, at least half of your paper is done. You can zoom in and fine-tune later, but you start with the backbone.

Let’s summarize this too:

• Go to the journal’s web site and download all the instructions to authors, decide on template, if any, and on which software to work in.
• Ask yourself if you are able to state your main findings and place them in a context.
• If you can’t, sit down, write up other what research, and write what you have done. Don't get lost in details. Write the abstract next.
• Write the conclusions.

Step 7

Start on the discussion. You are slowly getting into the fine-tuning stage now, and you will find yourself adding a detail here and there to the other sections. Now you also write any sections that you hadn't done yet.

Step 8

Don’t develop tunnel vision, but take at least a day-long break from time to time in which you do something totally different. Let the manuscript simmer at the back of your mind during the break. Your mind will do that for you, all by itself. It will work on the manuscript.

When everything is done, print and read your draft. Pretend you are someone else who is not aware of your work. Does it sound natural? Are there blanks in the text that your mind automatically fills in for you when you read it, but which might leave a different reader puzzled?

Get a pen or pencil and start editing. You don't have to do all your editing on paper, but you look at papers differently when you print them. You have more of a helicopter view compared with when you read them on screen, and it can really help.

Check your references, check your tables and figures, check everything you’ve done for compliance with the instructions to authors. Look at a few other papers of scientists whose papers you like to see if there's anything you've overlooked. Done all that, checked everything you can think of? Now your manuscript is ready to take it to your colleague, fellow student, or advisor.

PS
If you do decide to have it scientifically edited externally, be sure to let them know if any significant dates are coming up. It could be a meeting at which you need to discuss your draft, but it could also be the fact that you're going on a vacation soon. People can only take that into account if they know about it.

Disclaimer: Angelina Souren and SmarterScience accept no liability for any decisions made on the basis of information given on this web page.

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